Chapter 1.11: What Makes You Happy

     "Why did we leave so early?  Are Ochre and Cerulean still coming over for dinner?" River asked.

     "No, they're not," Rachael snapped tersely.  She pushed open the front door to find Patrick reading in the living room.  She waited for the girls to enter the house first before going inside.  Now crying, River ran through the room and into the hallway towards the girls' room.

     "Why are you snapping at us?  We didn't do anything to you," Rebecca yelled at her.

     "Enough, I'm not discussing it right now so go do your homework or something," Rachael said pointing out the doorway.

     Patrick closed his book as Rebecca turned and left the room.

     "What happened Rachael?" he asked.

     Rachael put her head in her hands and growled to herself.  She dropped her hands and looked at Patrick.  He smiled and patted the seat next to him on the couch, "Come talk baby girl."

     Rachael walked over and dropped to the couch.

     "What do I do, Patrick?" she asked.

     "It would help to know what the problem is.  I can't advise you if I don't know the whole story."

     Rachael sat up and looked at him.  "I ran into Carl and his wife at the park.  They saw me and Lean kissing," she closed her eyes and grimaced, "they told him everything."

     Patrick sighed and nodded, "that is tough.  You haven't told him yourself then?"

     "Yeah, right.  Great date topic.  No there was no reason for it to come up."

     "Then, knowing the take Carl and his wife have of the situation, Cerulean doesn't know everything.  You need to make a decision Rachael.  Is Cerulean and your relationship with him important to you?  If so, you need to talk to him and tell him your side."

     He stood up then leaned over to kiss the top of her head, "Whatever you decide I'll be here for you, baby girl, but you need to think about what is going to make you happy."

     Rachael watched as he walked around the corner and turned towards the girls room.  She heard the door open and River's muffled crying before it closed again.  She dropped back in the chair and closed her eyes thinking about her sister crying and Lean's face as she yelled at him.

     Cerulean looked confused when he had tried to get her to stop and hurt when she yelled at him.  If nothing else she owed him an apology for her display.


     Two days later, while the girls were at school, she knocked on the door of the Palette house and waited for someone to answer.

     Footsteps announced someone's approach so Rachael stepped back as the door opened.

     Cerulean stood inside, looking at her.  He stepped outside and closed the door.

     "Mags isn't home right now," he said.

     Rachael was taken aback by the frost in his voice.  Looking down at the floor she realized that she had really hurt him with her words.

     "I'm not here to see Mags.  I came to see you.  I came to apologize for what I said at the park," she wrapped her arms around herself as she peeked up at him through her lashes.  He had a helluva poker face, she couldn't tell what he was thinking now.

     Looking back at the ground she steadied the trembling in her chin and took another breath, "It was wrong of me to say it had nothing to do with you.  We were dating and you did have the right to know what he was talking about."

     "I'm sorry you had to go through that unpleasantness.  I'm thankful that Ochre wasn't there to see it.  If you still want him around the girls I'll have Patrick or Rhidian bring them to the park so that you don't have to see me anymore."

     "Well, I'll be going now," she took a step backwards ready to leave.

     "Stop."

     Rachael froze in place.  She looked up at him as Cerulean walked over to her.

     "You're not leaving like that," he said pulling her into an embrace and kissing her.

     Rachael wrapped her arms around him as he picked her up and carried her inside and up to his room.

     "Ochre?" she gasped as he set her down on the carpet and started kissing her neck.

     "School," he said against the collar of her shirt.  His hands grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled up, Rachael raised her arms helping him to take off her shirt before returning the favor and stripping off his shirt.

     "Mags?" she asked before he returned to kissing her.

     "Work."

     "Good," she nodded, kissing him as they made their way over to the bed.

     "We still need to talk," he said leaning over her as she lay back.

     Rachael let her hands drift across his ribs and around to his back, pulling him down to her as he kissed her on the lips.

     She looked him in the eyes as he pulled back again.  For the first time she made the effort to ignore her past and look at what was really in front of her.  In his eyes she saw desire, passion, and maybe, just maybe, love.

     "Yeah," she agreed and kissed him.

                                                                                                                         

Random Ramblings

    A special out take....

"Hot stuff baby tonight, I want some hot stuff baby...."

   Yeah I really don't know how that song goes but this is what is going through my mind at this time.  So in game Patrick has already died when it came time to create this scene. (I'm a little ahead of where the story is at).

   Fortunately for me he was a sim I created and I had his clone in my library, so I plop him into a little house turn aging on for him alone and wait until he's an elder to move him back into the O'Malley house.  He was cooking breakfast one morning when he set the stove then himself on fire.  He put himself out but for some reason the flames decided to hang out for awhile.  Can't remember why they're gone now....

   Now the really freaky part for me is when I'm reintroducing him to his kids and Rachael...The kids still recognize him as their father :-O  The clone is their father.  I kinda want to smack them and shake them yelling "He is a CLONE" cuz you know he isn't the original. that one has a gravestone in the backyard and all.